Many venues, such as stadiums and theaters, provide seating consisting of, for example, seats or backed benches. In such venues it is common for food, drink, souvenirs and other products to be offered for sale to a patron (i.e., “user”). Such sales transactions may occur directly on the venue “floor” at or near a user's seal. Such transactions, which may be available from walking vendors offering products, may be limited to what is immediately available on the venue floor at the time. Alternatively, the user must leave the seat and seek out a particular product at fixed vendor locations distributed around the venue, often out of view of the ongoing event, but without the user's foreknowledge of the location of the vendor, afterwards returning to the seat. This is an inconvenience that may deprive the user of a portion of time which could be better devoted to enjoying the event attended, e.g., a spectator sport.
Furthermore, in public venues there exists a concern for safely in the event of required evacuation. The user is often not conveniently provided with instructions for evacuation or response to a situation of urgency.
In addition to purchases, users often attend such venues with personal property, such as purses, bags, backpacks, outer garments, and the like. It is well known that many of such items are temporarily stored on the floor near or under the user's seat. Such items may become obstacles that impede egress/ingress for users or vendors and may even contribute to accidents, with consequences for liability and litigation.
There is a need, therefore, for an apparatus that may simultaneously improve vendor services, provide critical information support in case of matters of urgency, and improve user safely and convenience.